Sudan is in the midst of a political crisis with protestor death tolls on the rise and hundreds of bodies floating in the river Nile in a strike against the military regime.
Media attention and diplomatic efforts to mitigate the atrocities have been kept minimal which sparks the question – is this another Myanmar? Should there be outsider intervention?
The crisis began to erupt after ousted president Bashir was arrested in a military coup.
The transition of power has since fallen on the Transitional Military Council in replacement, yet this has only caused havoc with Hemedti – the feared commander pulling the strings of governance in Sudan.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have happened in opposition of the TMC, however, has been met with violent backlash as Hemedti warned chaos if unrest continues and what’s more – he has the support of Saudi, UAE and Egypt.
Hemedti’s rise became apparent during the conflict in Darfur where his military strategy was used against Bashir launched rebels and it was through this conflict that Bashir was accused of genocide by the International Criminal Court.
Sudan’s role of having a pro-government militia then gained traction through waging counterinsurgency campaigns in Darfur.
These campaigns were heavily condemned by the Human Rights Watch due to the horrific atrocities conducted in 2015, including mass rapes, abuses against civilians and destroying of livestock – all of which Hemedti denies.
Ultimately this gives resonance to the Myanmar abuses with Aung Suu Kyi governance having a strong military backing abusing the Rohingya’s in the Rakhine State.
The ICC has yet to incur charges against Hemedti but has reportedly enacted a disproportionate amount of attacks against its civilians, yet, fast forward to 2019 in Khartoum, the militia atrocities in response to pro-democracy protests have an unidentified amount of deaths under Hemedti’s rule.
Typically, there have been cases of intervention that have fallen unsuccessful such as Iraq and the Arab Spring, however, the lack of publicity surrounding issues in Sudan have raised much concern of the intent of Western leaders.
So far positive efforts have been visible with the African Union threatening sanctions on Sudanese military chiefs for not listening to the democratic will of the people but America must stabilise Sudan and communicate with Gulf allies in concerted efforts to mitigate the atrocities.
Similarly, there is a risk that Sudan could engage in identity-based violence where the government justify attacks based on identity groups, similar to the Rohingya in Myanmar.
And failing to overcome these may incentivise Islamist Extremism, considering ISIS are depleting in nearby Syria.
The British Ambassador in Sudan, Irfan Siddiq also condemns the militia involvement in governing Sudan.
It is unveiled that attention is slowly sparking but intervention is yet to be seen internationally to prevent the atrocities in Sudan proliferating.
The country is ultimately a ticking time-bomb on the brink of civil war and failing to make efforts may make Sudan topple off the edge into an inferno.
